


Neville Longbottom's PTSD and Social Anxiety

by rktheo



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 15:17:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13079673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rktheo/pseuds/rktheo
Summary: A slightly intellectual academic essay on Neville Longbottom's disorders. It does not go into as much depth as it could, as it took me hours to write it.





	Neville Longbottom's PTSD and Social Anxiety

In the Harry Potter series, many characters show signs of mental disorders, but none more prominent than Neville Longbottom. As an orphan growing up in a toxic household like Harry and the target of many bullies, Neville has developed disorders that have hindered him throughout his life. The two main disorders he has collected are post traumatic-stress disorder and social anxiety, both very obvious in his personality and actions we see in the series.

Most of the symptoms of PTSD that Neville experiences are psychosocial, such as low self-esteem, avoidance of memories or situations that trigger intrusive memories of the event, worry, guilt, and fears about death. Other symptoms of his are cognitive and physical, being trouble concentrating in school, altered cognitive functions in the form of memory issues, low basal cortisol levels, and feeling as though the event is happening all over again. 

Concerning his social anxiety, Neville’s experiences include a plethora, including but not limited to: worrying about embarrassing or humiliating himself, intense fear of interacting or talking with strangers, avoiding doing things or speaking to people out of fear of embarrassment, avoiding situations where he might be the center of attention, having anxiety in anticipation of a feared activity or event, enduring a social situation with intense fear or anxiety, spending time after a social situation analyzing his performance and identifying flaws in his interactions, and expecting the worst possible consequences from a negative experience during a social situation.

The origin of Neville's disorders could be traced earliest to his family environment. Although Neville did not witness the torture of his parents firsthand, he still was traumatized by the effects it on his family and future as it would continue to alter his life. The circumstances that came from the loss would end up leading to the snowball and blossoming of his disorders. His grandmother Augusta, a proud pureblood witch, was the main influence for his problems in his childhood. He acknowledges that she is constantly telling both him and others that he is not as talented as his parents. In addition to his grandmother, his other family members would abuse Neville to try to get him to show magic, including his Uncle Algie dangling and dropping the baby out of the window. Although Neville showed signs of magic as a baby, no one ever noticed, leading to horrible treatment from his entire family. He even goes as far as to refer to himself in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as a "nobody" and "almost a Squib". Dumbledore stated once that misery and lack of confidence can sap a wizard of his or her powers, which explains Neville’s competence as a wizard and later sources of his disorders.

Going off to Hogwarts was meant to be a safe haven for wizards, but was almost opposite for Neville with his building social anxiety and post traumatic-stress disorder. With overwhelming classes, bullies, and condescending teachers, the environment was toxic for Neville. 

Snape is one of the biggest contributors to Neville’s disorders, regularly and unnecessarily targeting his student with verbal taunts, threats, sarcasm, and malice. These actions put an extremely nervous Neville even more on edge and worsened his social anxiety. When Neville wasn’t competent enough to make his potion properly due to the trauma and discouragement from his family, Snape went so far as to feed a few drops of Neville's Shrinking Solution to Neville's toad, Trevor, so as to humiliate him for doing badly on the potion and almost kill the pet. Hermione saw her friend overcome with his anxiety and fixed his potion, which ended up with both of them getting punished and Neville’s anxiety worsening. 

In school, other pressures and problems ruptured Neville’s disorders. During one of Professor Moody’s lessons about curses, Neville relived the horror of his parents’ torture by the Cruciatus Curse and had an anxiety attack which Moody subsided through giving Neville a book on Herbology. At another point when Neville was pressured by his grandmother to relive his parents’ genius in Transfiguration, Professor McGonagall saw his panic and anxiety as she denied him her N.E.W.T.-level class. It is implied throughout the books that Neville has other moments where he is forced to relive traumatic events.

One of Neville’s most infamous traits is his forgetfulness, which is a cognitive symptom of PTSD. In the beginning of the book, he often misplaces Trevor when arriving to Hogwarts, losing him on the train and on the boat ride to the castle. His grandmother sent him a package his first year of a Remembrall when he forgot his robes, a quintessential and essential part of the uniform. 

With the support of his friends, to whom he was very loyal, the encouragement of Professor Remus Lupin to face his fears in his third year, and the motivation of knowing his parents’ torturers were on the loose, Neville was able to blossom and overcome his disorders dedicated to the fight against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. By the end of his school years Neville became braver and more self-assured in order to become what he needed to be and complete his role in saving the wizarding world.


End file.
